Artist, Writer

July 25, 2015

Independence

To seek independence or independent thought is probably the goal of Aboriginal communities. I used to wonder why there were large communities in some way isolated from cultural centres, but really these communities are cultural centres. They are not as heavily reliant on corporate or government mandates and to intervene is to take away this independence. What does it mean though to be independent? Is it in some way above the law or below the radar? When you were solely an independent society you would want to get back to that state, rather than be a subject of another society. In some way Indigenous societies are meant to be independent but can you really get back to that state? In some ways these struggles are relevant to everyone because we all need to find some independence from corporate and government agendas, to free ourselves. We need to come together to do that and be mindful that we can’t rely on business or economics to show us the way forward. It isn’t that business is the bad guy but the idea of competition which in a lot of ways is a construct of marketing doesn’t lead to cooperative and independent thought but the amassing of capital and financial independence which isn’t a community oriented activity but something separate and individually accumulative. We have stepped backwards following economic rationalism to something more related to genetic inheritance where families become political candidates or power brokers in a world more fractured because of a lack of independence and free thought. We need not rely on corporate agendas but find our own ways forward and we have to keep that in the front of our minds.